The Facebook Open Stream API — Today we are excited to announce an important step toward greater openness through Facebook Platform. For the first time, we're opening the core Facebook product experience — the stream — with the new Facebook Open Stream API.

Microsoft's Mundie, Google's Schmidt named Obama advisers — Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, was among 20 science and technology leaders appointed this morning to President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Also on the list is Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive.

Some Palm Pre Questions — Despite the fact that all of us that know the actual release date of the device are bound by a NDA and our job titles, we all know that it's going to be soon... so I figured it might be nice to answer a few FAQ before it arrives. Here's some questions and facts …

Inside Steve Jobs' tear-down mansion — On Tuesday a California city council will reconsider Steve Jobs' longstanding request for permission to tear down the empty 84-year-old mansion that stands on the site where he wants to build a smaller, modern house more to his exacting taste.

Three's Company: Meet Your New MySpace Executive Team — Less than a week ago MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe still felt secure in his job. Fast forward to today and DeWolfe is out and a new CEO, Owen Van Natta, is starting his first day on the job. — And he's already got two lieutenants …

Apple building YouTube support into Snow Leopard — Apple will further its endorsement of YouTube and open video standards by building support for the Google-owned video sharing service into one of its flagship applications due to ship later this summer as part of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Former AMD/ATI chief technology officer joins Apple — Bob Drebin has been hired from AMD by Apple and is now serving as a senior director. He worked at AMD until January 2008. — “The just about a year interlude before joining Apple seems suspiciously like a non-compete/don't-sue-me hiatus,” notes The Inquirer.

Eric Schmidt on Google's New Plan for the News — The upper crust of Hollywood swirled about the vestibule and dining room of Arianna Huffington's Brentwood mansion on Friday night at a party for author Kathy Freston, and to kick off this weekend's L.A. Times Book Festival. (More on this later.)

Conde Nast Closing ‘Portfolio’ — For nearly two years I've been covering the media industry's bad news on this blog, including some that's hit very close to home. Now it hits closer still: Condé Nast Portfolio is closing. — Our editor in chief, Joanne Lipman, just broke the news to staff …

Whoops! Apple miscounted the “Say on Pay” vote, reverses decision — Apple this week informed the SEC that it had miscounted the shareholder votes on the ‘Say on Pay’ referendum at the February 25th shareholder meeting. The referendum was intended to let shareholders weigh in on policies regarding executive pay and compensation.

Android 1.5 is here! — I've got some good news today: the Android 1.5 SDK, release 1 is ready! Grab it from the download page. — For an overview of the new Android 1.5 features, see the 1.5 release notes page in our developer site. — I am also happy to let you know that our partners …

Public Booted from DVD Copying Trial Over ‘Secret’ CSS Code — SAN FRANCISCO — Whether the public has a right to make a “fair use” copy of DVDs is on trial in a San Francisco federal court. Yet the public may never know whether the verdict was reached fairly because the presiding judge removed …

What's Up With Yahoo? — Something seems to be pressuring Yahoo (YHOO) shares. If only I knew what it was. There's no obvious market-moving news; I don't think the stock would sell off on the loss of the head of communications. No analyst reports of note, either.

iPhone is Boosting Demand For Location-Based Services — Nearly two years ago, I outlined five reasons Apple's iPhone will change the wireless business, the foremost being increased web usage on mobile phones. I should have added another item to that list: catalysing location-based services …

Cassatt Near The End — Software maker that vowed to topple giants hit by economy, slower sales—and giants. — BURLINGAME, Calif. — Cassatt, an ambitious software start-up designed to run big computer systems is “close to the end,” according to founder and Chief Executive William Coleman.